Yami Uchiha, Kage no Ninja
by Adrestis
Summary: Shadows. Strange things they are. But surely not alive, right? Wrong. This story tells the sad tale of a child cursed with a strange, dreadful power, who eventually rises above his own suffering to become a great legend that would be told long after his era. Oh, and one last thing: This story has no happy ending.
1. Chapter 1: Yamino Kono Tanjo

**Chapter 1: Yamino Kono Tanjo (Birth of The Darkness Child)**

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**A/N: Hello everyone! Adrestis here! Welcome to my first fanfic on this website. Not my FIRST fanfic, but still. I'll be quick about this. Please do not flame if you do not like this story. Constructive criticism is appreciated, so I can understand what things I may have messed up on, but if you wish to flame, just DON'T READ, or at least make it constructive criticism so I can understand the problem. We good? Ok. Now, let's continue with the story!**

**Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.**

**Note: Every chapter is liable to editions or changes, since I try my best to bring it up to my current writing style. If something in later chapters shows up that doesn't make sense, you may want to reread.**

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**Author's Notes (Important!)**

Different Font Labels:

"Basic Speech/Jutsus and Handsigns"

"_Basic Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu/Kagenokami/Angry Speech"**

"_**Bijuu/Kagenokami/Angry Thoughts"**_

Basic Terms You Need to Know (BTW, Shinobi anatomy will be changed):

* Kagenokami (Shadow Spirits): Sentient beings that take the form of shadows to disguise their true forms, feed off of Yang energy, vitality, souls and energy to replenish their forms, and can Bond onto children, or specifically, infants. They emit Shadow Energy constantly, but usually they experience spikes in Shadow Energy emitting immediately after feeding.

* Shadow Energy: Energy that is constantly emitted by Kagenokami and is incredibly powerful but unstable. It can be shaped and molded, and has properties similar to chakra, but can always be controlled by Kagenoko and Kagenokami, even if it is absorbed. This Energy can only be used by Kagenoko and Kagenokami, since when the two are Bound, Shadow Energy emitted by the Kagenokami is funneled straight into the Kagenoko's chakra reserves.

* Kagenoko (Shadow Children): Children who end up being bound to and fed upon by the Kagenokami. They also have an imbalanced Yin to Yang ratio. Only a few have survived past infancy and used Shadow Energy for the first time. Depending on how much Yang chakra they have, they can attract and be Bound to anywhere from 1 to 50 Kagenokami at a time.

* Chakra Core: The part of the chakra pathway system from which raw, unconcentrated chakra is constantly generated. Located in the solar plexus region and surrounded by chakra coils, this is where physical or Yang energy collected from the body's cells and spiritual or Yin energy collected from the soul and the mind are moulded together to form basic chakra. The chakra generated by this process is raw and unfiltered, so it isn't possible to use this basic chakra immediately. It has to go through the process of filtration before it can be used. The ratio between Yin to Yang chakra is shown here, but the ratio can only be seen in full definition by Byakugan and Rinnegan, though Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan can see the silhouette, and Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan can see it, even though it is slightly hazy to the EMS.

**Now, onto the story!**

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## Konohagakure General Hospital - Friday, October 13 ##

From room 613, you could hear screams of pain as Hikari Uchiha, a 27 year old jonin kunoichi, gave birth to the firstborn child of her and her husband, Taiyo Uchiha, a 28 year old jonin, who was holding her hand and saying comforting words, while the midwife nurse told her, "Push! Push! He's crowning!" Finally, the baby was born, a small, fragile child with hair roots as black as darkness. But unknown to all but a few, he was a Kagenoko, a child of the shadows, and this is his story.

Meanwhile, in the afterlife known as the Pure Land, a figure sat in a lotus position, meditating. He wore a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black magatama around a high collar. He felt a new source of chakra become suddenly generated, and first he simply dismissed it, but there were two strange things about this new chakra source. One, it was much stronger than a normal infant's chakra source, and two, it had a second layer, a black one that radiated death and darkness. Intrigued and also slightly afraid that this was another one of THOSE children, he quickly used his chakra to break the equilibrium between his Pure Land body and his soul before forcing his soul out of his body.

His body now sat there, but his soul was now a seperate entity, an astral figure. He quickly descended to Konoha, before heading to Room 613. He phased through the door and saw a beautiful woman holding a fragile child, as the father watched on with a smile. Activating his Rinnegan, he saw the child's chakra core, and was surprised, though he didn't show it.

The Yin part was much larger than the Yang, even more so than other cases that he had seen, but that wasn't all. He saw the blue-black aura that emnated death and dark power, but it felt much denser and far more powerful. The mother cradled her child, smiling, and the midwife asked, "What will you name him?", to which the mother replied, "Yami. His hair is as black as darkness, yet so beautiful." The child held his mother's arm, and the aura reached out tendrils toward the mother's soul, before the Yang chakra of her core and then her powerful adult life force was slowly sucked out of the mother's soul, piece by piece. Because of the recent childbirth and the stress of giving birth to a new life, the mother's soul didn't attempt to resist the pull like it normally would, so the mother died peacefully. Hagoromo watched in shock and confusion as the heart monitor completely flatlined and the father, in shock as well, called for the doctor.

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Hagoromo had never seen this. That was plain and simple. Normally, it was the child who died, not the parent. Secondly, this child's aura was far more powerful than the normal aura of one of THESE children, so in all regards, the child would've died within the first month if this had not occured. As the father spoke with the doctor about what had happened, as both were incredibly confused, since there had been no complications up to this day, Hagoromo went to the baby nursery, following the nurse, who held the infant - Yami, he reminded himself, - before him and the nurse carrying baby Yami arrived at the nursery.

The nurse left the baby on the crib before walking out. Hagoromo walked to the crib in which Yami was laid, before thinking on what to do. This child would change everything. He knew that a strange black creature had changed the tablet he had made, had led the descendants of his wayward son, Indra, as well as at least one of Indra's reincarnations astray. This child was much more powerful than the other children like him he has seen. He needed to stay alive.

With this in his mind, he walked up to the child, before stretching out his hand over the child and funneling his power into him, until a black crescent appeared on the left palm of infant Yami and a white circle appeared on the infant's right palm, before both symbols vanished. He then used chakra to force all the Kagenokami and their Energy into the Chakra Core, making them part of it, before using Fuinjutsu to keep the Kagenokami there, causing a seal pattern to spread out all over his body, centered around a 8 trigram pattern which bordered the child's chakra core, before disappearing as Hagoromo formed a half Ram seal and said, "Fuin!". He then smiled and said, "Good luck, child.", before turning and ascending back to the Pure Land. He could've sworn he heard Yami cooing in reply as he left.

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**Hope you enjoyed! So yeah, I'm killing off his mom early in this. You'll see why. But please review so I can know my faults, and see you all next chapter! Hopefully it won't take too long..**

**Edited as of 5/20/2020: Author's Notes have been added, and some writing has changed.**


	2. Chapter 2: Sukiru Ikusei-

**Chapter 2****: Sukiru Ikusei To Seppaku Shita Shi (Skill Cultivation and Impending Death)**

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**A/N: Hi everyone! Adrestis here! I haven't updated in quite a while, and I'm sorry about that. But hey, have this chapter! Also, please don't flame. If you want to give criticism, give it constructively, and not through flaming. And another thing: The title had to be shortened, so yeah. The real title is above. See ya at the bottom!**

**Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.**

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**4 Years Later**

Yami had grown a lot since his birth, even for an Uchiha. He had started walking and talking at 9 months old. By a year and 2 months, he could already run, read, and use kunai and shuriken. His IQ was already 98 at age 4, and this was comparable to the incredible intellect of the Nara Clan, meaning his mind ran a mile a minute, hence why he needed to always train and have something to do. He had spiky black hair which he had inherited from his father and soft brown eyes that he had inherited from his mother. Yami's physique was a bit skinny, but still relatively normal, and he preferred to wear. His father had learned that Yami had very fine-tuned chakra control firsthand, when he first trained him in walking up trees and other surfaces, as well as water walking, Yami having mastered both in a day, and he had also learned the Shunshin in order to add on to his speed, which was already rather high. Speaking of which, Taiyo had handled his wife's death rather well, still missing her, but knowing that she would want him to move on and raise their child.

So he began training Yami in the basic forms of the Uchiha's Fighting Style, called Interceptor Fist, which, at its core, was a fighting style that targeted the body's natural weak points, such as joints at the elbows, knees, and neck, or the solar plexus. He also taught Yami the basic stances and moves for Goken, or Strong Fist, which when combined with the Interceptor Fist, was very efficient and had the potential to kill if used properly. Yami seemed to have a talent for weapons, as his father had seen when Yami had trained by throwing shuriken, kunai and throwing spikes, always hitting the target dead-center. By the time he was 2 years old, Yami pestered his father for chakra nature training, and his father obliged. When they identified his chakra natures, it put him on the map as a possible well of potential.

_**Flashback**_

Taiyo Uchiha, with his arms crossed, watched as his son held a chakra paper, with a confused face. Finally, after a few seconds of silence, Yami looked up to his father and asked, "Okay, dad, what do I do with this?", to which Taiyo smiled and said, "This is called the Chakra Litmus Test. It tests for elemental chakra affinities. Channel chakra into it." Yami said, "Thank you, Father.", before doing as his father said. The paper suddenly turned as black as the darkness, before it wrinkled, sliced into half, and then burned into nothing. Yami blinked once, then twice, and Taiyo said, "Okay, this is NOT what I expected, but good job, son." Yami grinned, and then said, "Now, what affinities do I have?"

_**Flashback End**_

Yami had four different chakra nature affinities, and this was put on record due to its unnatural nature. He had Lightning, which was what caused the wrinkling reaction, Fire, which is why the paper burned into nothing, Wind, which was why the paper had sliced in two, and Yin, which was why the paper had darkened and which was a unique affinity that was rather rare, with the Second Mizukage having a high affinity for it, since Yin and Yang formed the basis for non-elemental ninjutsu and few really had an affinity for it. His Fire and Yin affinities were much stronger than his Lightning and Earth affinities. The reason for this, however, was that Yami's ninjutsu power had been increased in compensation for his main weakness. The day the family of 2 learned that weakness was the day that he began being haunted by thoughts about his death.

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Taiyo and Yami had gone to the Konoha Hospital to have a checkup, and were sitting on the couch in the doctor's room, waiting for the diagnosis of Yami's checkup. They had brought in a young Hyuuga named Hizashi to check his chakra system, and they became fast friends. Yami couldn't shake this bad feeling though, that something would shift, that something would change, and he held his father's hand tightly for the first time since he became 1. Taiyo noticed how Yami was shaken, so he reassured him, asking, "What's wrong, son? The bad feeling in your gut?", to which Yami nodded. Taiyo smiled, before saying, "Just breathe in and out, okay?", and Yami eventually calmed down. Sometime after Yami calmed down, the doctor came back in, a grim, dark look on his face and a thick brown envelope under his arm. Taiyo noticed it and asked, "What's wrong, sir?", and the doctor said, "It's better if I just show you.", before he put the brown envelope he had been carrying down on the table and he opened it.

The doctor then took out several x-ray photos and showed them to Taiyo as Yami sat on the couch. The doctor said, "If you look here, Yami's bones are much smaller than an average child of 4 years old. His bone density isn't very good either. It's -4." Taiyo's eyes widened before his calm composure broke and he shouted, "What?! How?! How can he have that weak of a body when he's supposed to be growing and becoming stronger?!" The doctor shook his head and said, "Yami's bones are so weak that a single hard hit will break them, or possibly shatter them. The condition of his muscles isn't as bad but is still very bad. They are very weak. But that isn't the worst part of it all."

The doctor pulled out more photos and some drawings and put them on the table. Taiyo picked up one. It was a drawing of a humanoid, but in the stomach area, there was a Yin and Yang symbol, but slightly different. There were three parts, the Yin part, the Yang part, and another, colored sky blue and black, and the Yin part was much larger than the Yang part. The humanoid figure drawing had an aura of the same colors as the third foreign part in the changed Yin-Yang symbol.

The doctor saw the drawing in Taiyo's hand and said, "Oh, that was drawn by Hizashi. We asked him to draw what he had seen, and he drew that." The doctor pointed at the changed Yin-Yang symbol and said, "This is the worst part. There are several abnormalities in his chakra core, which are very dangerous. Yami's Yin chakra is far greater than his Yang. The ratio for his chakra is 7:3, the lowest ratio I've seen. We've dealt with a few rare cases like this before, and they're collectively known across the Elemental Nations as Kagenoko. The survival rate for one to make it past infancy is 1 in 20, and the survival rate to make it to 18 is 1 in 10. I'm sorry, Uchiha-san." The doctor wore a sympathetic expression which Yami hated.

Yami softly said, "So I'm going to die then, huh?" Taiyo shook his head, hugging him, and Yami hugged back tightly, and began to cry. "Dad, I don't.. I don't want to die.", he sobbed out. This was an emotional shock to him, and it HURT. But his father stayed with him, held him tight and comforted him. Yami made a promise then: to live his limited life to the fullest, to not waste the care his father gave him.

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**Yeah, yeah, I know it may seem stereotypical and he'll probably survive, but just roll with it, please. I have a lot planned for this story. Thanks for reading! And please leave constructive criticism, not mindless flames. -Adrestis**

**Edited on 5/19/2020: Yami no longer has the affinity for Earth, instead having Wind. Also, please note that he HAS these affinities, but he hasn't used any of them yet. And he's just physically conditioned, not conditioned in terms of ninjutsu or genjutsu. Also, I made the writing better.**


	3. Chapter 3: Atarashi Tomodachi

**Chapter 3****: Atarashi Tomodachi (New Friend)**

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**A/N: Hello everyone! Adrestis back again! With a NEW CHAPTER! Hopefully, y'all enjoy this one, and please read to the end! Thanks!**

**Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.**

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_**A Few Months Later**_

Yami walked down the path to the academy. It was the first day, and he was wearing a blue shirt, dark pants and black sandals. The entrance ceremony was over, so now was the first real training day of his Academy career. A shame that this momentous moment was ruined by the fact that he was both very weak and that he was, you know, at risk of dying before he could even become a full adult.

He just shook away the dark thoughts that slithered onto his shoulder and whispered poison whenever he went down this path of thought. No point in thinking about it. He entered the classroom, and almost immediately, the sound of rowdy kids hit his ears. He groaned softly and just walked to a seat, before putting his stuff at the base of the chair and sitting, before pretending to nap. He was watching everyone, and he noticed almost immediately the masked kid with silver hair sitting beside him. He identified this kid as Kakashi Hatake, son of Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang of Konoha. _'Huh. He looks both like and not like his dad." _Yami just sat up and pulled out a notebook, before beginning to sketch out his drawing of a katana, ignoring everyone around him.

When the teacher came in, Yami put his notebook and pencil away, and he began to nap. Right before he began napping, he heard the teacher say, "Alright, introduce yourself and your future dream.", and he grumbled at not being able to sleep. As each person stood up and announced their name and dream, Yami just drew on his notebook, bored. Eventually, he was called, and he just sighed, before stating, "My name is Yami Uchiha, and I don't really have a dream.", and sitting back down, continuing to draw out of boredom. He was broken out of his drawing when someone tapped him on the shoulder. before he followed his peers and the teacher outside.

Yami watched with curious yet cold eyes as he analyzed his peers sparring against one another in the exercise. _'As expected, none of them have a solid technique. They're just swinging their limbs around and hoping for the best. Some traces of katas and training, mostly Academy taijutsu but some clan training.' _He wrote down these observations in his notebook, and he could feel someone looking over his shoulder. Yami turned his head just slightly to see a kid with goggles. Yami immediately sensed that the kid was an Uchiha, just by the hair and the chakra aura.

The person said, full of energy, "Yo! That's a cool sketch! How do you do that?"

"I just create the outer shape first then work from there.", Yami replied before motioning to the outline of his katana sketch. The two conversed in a bit of small talk, and Yami learned the kid's name was Obito Uchiha. Then he heard the teacher say, "Uchiha Yami, Hatake Kakashi, come forward for the exercise."

"Welp, sorry Obito, gotta go. Good to meet you. Guard my stuff, please.", Yami commented, putting his notebook and pencil into his bag. Obito nodded, and Yami walked calmly to the instructor, facing Kakashi, before dropping into a fighting stance. Kakashi did the same, and the instructor shouted, "Hajime!"

Kakashi immediately lunged forward and swung a right hook, but Yami just stepped back, before he pushed up Kakashi's arm and slammed his palm into the white-haired kid's chest, sending him stepping back a bit. Kakashi then swung up his right leg into a kick, which Yami blocked with his left forearm. He winced as he felt his ulna crack, but ignored the pain and forced Kakashi's leg back, before retaliating with a right hook and slugging Kakashi in the face. The two exchanged blows, causing a few more of Yami's bones to crack and giving Kakashi some bruises.

Kakashi attempted an uppercut, but Yami pushed it aside, before socking Kakashi in the face, stunning him. As Kakashi staggered back, Yami cocked back his arm for one final blow, but Kakashi instinctually delivered a straight punch to Yami's chest, not controlling the force like earlier. Multiple loud cracking and breaking noises were heard as Yami stopped immediately and was sent back. Everyone, especially Kakashi, watched in horror as blood trickled from Yami's mouth and he fell, feeling nothing but pain. As he slipped into unconsciousness, he saw several Chunin instructors running toward him and grimly thought, _'Well, if I die here, then that's a bummer. I wish I could've said goodbye.', _before he slipped into unconsciousness.

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Yami woke up in a bed. At first, he thought the whole time in the Academy was a dream, but as he tried to sit up, he felt a small amount of pain and a stiff bandage wrapped around his chest. He tried to breath, and gasped in pain. _'OW, that hurts... a broken rib REALLY hurts.' _As his vision cleared, he noticed his father sitting on a chair beside him, fidgeting with an expression of worry on his face. His dad looked at him, then smiled, relief showing on his face as he said, "Kid. You're alright!" Yami grinned, but then gasped again, wheezing in pain. "I don't feel alright.", he wheezed out, groaning at the pain. "Well, trust me, broken ribs really are like that. You actually managed to heal faster than normal. The pain will subside after a week at this rate, when your bones fully heal.", the doctor said, walking into the room. "Also, someone would like to see you." Yami just said, "Um, why would someone want to see me?" The doctor just shrugged, then gestured for his father to leave the room, and once he did, gestured to someone outside to come in, before leaving the room.

A man with white hair, as well as Kakashi came in the room. Yami knew who this was. "The White Fang?", he wheezed out, before coughing in pain. Kakashi winced at seeing this, knowing it WAS his fault. Once Yami's painful coughing fit subsided, he looked at them, and asked, "Why did you want to see me?" Kakashi replied, "I wanted to say sorry. For... your broken ribs." Yami said, "Wait. Ribs?!", blinking in confusion. Kakashi's father said, "You didn't know? Your sternum and multiple ribs were broken. Bone fragments came very close to piercing your internal organs. You were lucky. Speaking of which, why did your bones break that easily?" Yami said, "Sakumo-san, it's a condition. My body is much weaker than a normal human body, because my Yin to Yang chakra ratio is imbalanced." The White Fang stayed quiet for a second, thinking about something he had heard about before. _Kagenoko... _He shrugged off the thought and said, "Please, call me Sakumo." Yami nodded, and then turned to Kakashi and said, "It's no problem. I accept your apology.", smiling. Kakashi was silent, but he knew that smile was sincere. Yami offered his hand, and Kakashi shook it, making the two allies.

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**Geez. Sorry for taking so long to post a new chapter, I sort of lost interest in Naruto. I'll try to post again, hopefully. For now, this is Adrestis, and I'll see you all next time. Bye!**

**P.S. Also, I had to delete the Author's Notes chapter because of FanFiction's new guidelines. Sorry.**


	4. Chapter 4: Atarashī Hitoniau

**Chapter 4****: Atarashī Hitoniau (Meeting Someone New)**

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**A/N: Hello reader! I'm finally back again! This is a new chapter, and I hope I can keep the updates up. Hopefully, y'all enjoy this one, and please read to the end! Thanks!**

**Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.**

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Yami smiled as he finally got out of the hospital. Sure, it was okay there, and he had managed to sketch out a whole bunch of things and come up with new jutsu, but it was boring, and very lonely. Sure, Kakashi and Obito, and his dad visited, but he didn't like being confined to the bed, nor the tight bandage around his chest. Tomorrow, he could go back to the academy, go back to training. He thanked Kami for that.

On the next day, he came back to the Academy. He had an outfit of a blue shirt, dark pants, black sandals and black fingerless gloves. He knew the whispers behind his back, how they talked about the incident that had landed him in the hospital. He didn't really care, but as he walked in the classroom, his mood brightened as he saw Kakashi and Obito arguing. He chuckled, shaking his head and walked over, sitting between them. "Guys, calm down. Geez, why do I have to be the bridge between you two?", he said jokingly. Obito said, "This guy's a jerk! How are you friends with him?", while Kakashi said, "Well, you're too loud. How are you friends with Yami anyway?' Obito flushed with anger and replied, "I'm not the one who nearly killed him in a spar!"

At this point, Yami just sighed and gestured for both of them to shush, since everyone stared then began to whisper some more. "Stop arguing. There's enough whispering about that incident as it is." Obito commented, "You're famous now. People think you're cool because of what happened." Yami shook his head in annoyance, sighing and thinking, _'Already? And even after like, 2 weeks, they still think that? Goddangit.' _He then said, "Yeah, well, no thanks. Fame ain't my thing." Kakashi simply raised an eyebrow, and Yami just gave him a deadpan look. Then the teacher came in, and classes began.

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Yami breathed a sigh of relief as he walked out of the Academy after class, putting the whispers behind him. He noticed the white hair that marked Kakashi and walked over, seeing him arguing with Obito while a girl with straight brown hair and rectangular purple markings on her cheeks watched. He groaned in annoyance and walked over, pushing the two apart. "Guys, stop already! Why do I always have to play peacemaker between you guys, what the heck?" He noticed the girl staring at him in surprise, and sighed, turning to her and saying, "Nice to meet you. My name's Yami.", before offering a hand for a handshake.

She took it, shaking his hand and saying, "And I'm Rin! You're one of Obito's friends, right? Oh, wait, you're the person who got their ribs broken and ended up in the hospital!" Yami winced at the mention of that, and said, "I'd.. prefer not to remember that. Also, Kakashi, you owe me.", having turned to Kakashi, who now wore a confused expression that Obito laughed at. Yami then commented, "Now what? I mean, I'm hungry, but since I FINALLY got out of the hospital, I also REALLY want to train. But have you guys tried ramen? I really wanna know how to make it, it is so good..", he trailed off, rambling a bit more before Rin's giggle shut him up. He flushed in embarrasment, and then Obito chimed, "I mean, I like ramen, but can we train?" Yami sighed in relief. "Sure.", then grinned mischievously. He then disappeared in black lines, using Shunshin, then appeared several feet away, gesturing for them to follow, then disappeared again, with the three running after him and Obito cursing at him.

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Soon enough, they made it to one of the Training Grounds, Yami not even tired and laughing, and the three winded. Obito shouted, "MAYBE WARN US NEXT TIME?", and Yami shrugged, chuckling. Rin giggled despite being winded, and Kakashi asked, panting slightly, "What're we training for?" Yami said, "Why not kunai and shuriken, for starters? I mean, sure, they're sort of obsolete when it comes to large scale jutsu fights, but when it comes to assassinations, they're rather useful. I actually had the idea to make a mechanism with a retractible kunai blade in your wrist so you can make it pop out...", he continued to ramble until Kakashi just threw a kunai right by his head. It missed, but Yami instinctively caught it as it flew past him and threw it back. It missed, of course, but that was enough to snap him out of his rambling. "Oh, sorry. I was rambling again, huh? Also, Kakashi, rude." Kakashi said, "That's for making us run after you after you kept using Shunshin." Yami just remarked, "Wow, didn't know you could hold a grudge.", before he pulled out a hammer and a nail, and nailed the nail into the tree, before reaching into his bag and pulling out a dinner plate-sized wooden target and hanging it up on the nail with strings. "I think y'all can see where this is going."

Kakashi immediately threw a kunai and it stuck just beside the center target. Obito did the same, but the kunai hit the edge of the target, and Rin also threw a kunai and it nailed dead center. "Nice. Obito, just remember to focus on the target and throw right at it." Obito inhaled, and tried to do it again, making it closer to the center. Yami nodded in approval, then said, "You guys can keep doing that. I'll just do something real quick.", before walking into the woods. As they continued, and Obito improved, they heard the sound of nails being driven into wood. They stopped and listened. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 times, the sound rang out, then they heard Yami's sigh. Obito looked at Kakashi, and whispered, "What is he doing?", to which Kakashi shrugged, and then Obito decided to find out. He headed in, and Rin followed. Kakashi trailed behind, and they all made it to see a clearing. 8 targets were positioned in different places & heights around the clearing, and Yami was in the middle, crouched, 8 kunai in between his fingers like claws. He breathed in, then jumped, then performed what looked like an aerial dance, kunai flying here and there, until every target was hit dead center, shocking the trio. Once he landed, they ran forward, expressing their shock, except Kakashi, who just watched. Then another voice said, "Yeah, I gotta admit, that kind of skill at your age is rare."

Everyone turned to the sound, and a teen, who looked to be 14, with blond hair, came into the clearing. Yami instinctively reached for his side and pulled out a bokken, which the trio didn't really notice Yami carrying on the way. It looked a bit heavy, definitely enough to knock someone out. Yami held it with two hands, making sure not to mess up with balancing it, and asked, "Who are you? And why are you here?" The teen sighed, then said, "My name is Minato Namikaze. This is where I sometimes come to train. What's your name?" Yami held the bokken in one hand, not holding it up but letting it dangle, then said, "Yami Uchiha. Good to meet you, Minato-san. Forgive me if this sounds rude, but do I know you? Your name sounds familiar. Weren't you the one who saved someone aged 12 important to the Leaf? From what I've gathered, the person you saved might be the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, since I doubt there's any important official who's like, 12..", he continued rambling, and Minato was surprised at how quickly he spoke and how he knew so much about that incident.

He looked at the trio beside him, looking at Obito's dumbfounded expression at Yami's rambling and Rin just watching in slight bemusement, and Kakashi sighed and said, "It's a habit of his. Just interrupt him or let him tire himself out." Minato waited for around a minute, thinking, _'How the heck does this kid have enough breath to speak for one minute?' _Kakashi just sighed, and punched him lightly in the arm, but Yami's hand holding the bokken swung up, bonking Kakashi in the face. It didn't hurt too much, but it was still painful, and Kakashi groaned, as Obito snickered and Rin just wore a sympathetic look on her face. Yami blinked, and said, "Sorry.", before putting away the bokken and asking, "Does it hurt?" Kakashi said, "A bit." Yami said, "Guess the mask saved you from getting hurt too much. Why do you wear that thing anyway, that's gotta be annoying to breath in.." Minato cut off what was sure to be another ramble, and said, "Yes, your theory was correct. Kushina is the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, and you don't need to call me Minato-san. Minato is fine." Yami just gaped at the fact that he got it right, and Obito and Rin just snickered at his expression while Kakashi rolled his eyes.

Minato just chuckled, then Yami then said, "Waaaaiit. Do you know the Kyuubi Jinchuriki? Sorry if this is rude, are you like, a couple or something?" Minato just nodded, and Yami was freaking stunned, as were the trio. Yami just sighed, and commented, "Goddamnit, why was I right, WHY was I RIGHT?!" At this point, Kakashi grabbed Yami's arm and bodily dragged him away, saying, "Alright, mate, time to go. We've been here, for like, an hour since your aerial dance." "Okay, okay! Let me at least get my kunai. I'll leave the targets for now." Yami just looked longingly at a target and commented, "I REALLY wish I could just.. YANK the kunai out." As he said this, he imitated pulling at one of the targets. Suddenly, the kunai in it was forcefully yanked out, surprising them. Yami walked over, and reached for it, and a black tendril lifted the kunai into his hand before disappearing. Yami looked at the knife, and muttered, "_What the hell?"_ He sighed and started grabbing the kunai, eventually getting them all and putting them in the holster. He then picked up his bag with a sigh, then said, "Alright, I'll go. Bye guys." The trio went with him, and he waved goodbye to Minato Namikaze.

* * *

As the four walked down the street, with Yami having left the bokken at the training ground, he just said, "Wanna go get something? I'm feeling like gyoza, since I only really want a snack for now. I may get bentos though, for Dad. Money's on me." They said that gyoza was good, & Rin tried to refuse and pay for her own food, but Yami just said, "Nah, it's fine. But Kakashi, you're paying for my order. I'm calling in that favor." Kakashi sighed, pulling out some ryo, and Yami did too. Soon enough, they had gyoza. As Yami snacked on it, he commented, "I really wanna know how to cook. Maybe, if I live through the war and retire, I'll cook, or something like that." Kakashi commented, "Just hope you survive the war at all." Yami said, "True. I mean, we're all going to die someday. I just want to live long enough to die in peace. I'm not after immortality, to be honest." Obito asked, "But wouldn't being immortal be cool? You could do anything you want!" Yami sighed and for once, looked much older than he was, before saying, "Immortality isn't worth seeing everyone you love die. It isn't worth the pain you feel as you watch everyone and everything slowly fade, wither and die. I would get tired, you know. Watching everything... turn to dust."

Yami stayed silent, looking down at his gyoza, as the other three stayed silent. Obito softly said, "Yeah...", then Yami said, "Okay, enough of the sadness.", before trying to yank Kakashi's mask down. He jumped back and slapped away Yami's hand, and Obito snickered at Kakashi's scandalized face, while Rin just watched. Yami chuckled, and Kakashi just sighed. Yami then looked at Kakashi's untouched gyoza and asked, "How the hell are you going to eat that with your mask?" Kakashi commented, "I have my ways. Look, it's the Hokage!", he finished, pointing outside. They all turned, even Yami, though he knew what was up, and when they turned back in confusion, and in Yami's case, amusement, after they didn't see the Hokage, they saw Kakashi's plate empty. "How the hell do you eat that fast?", Obito and Yami said at the same time. Rin commented, "That was around 10 or so seconds." Kakashi just shrugged, his cheeks bulging a bit, and said out of his slightly full mouth, "Eh, it's a habit." Yami commented, "You look like a squirrel.", before poking his slightly bulging cheeks. Obito laughed, Rin chuckled, Yami just grinned, and Kakashi shrugged.

* * *

After Yami got bentos for take-out, the four headed home, saying goodbyes as they got to the point where they all had to split up. Once Yami got home, he sighed, putting his bag beside the door, and putting the bag with bento boxes on the table. He took out the stuff for homework and for drawing from his bag, placed it inside his room, and then went into the room that once belonged to his mother. His father was sitting on the empty bed, holding his wedding ring in his hand. Yami softly sighed; this was normal. His father still mourned his mom's death, even 4 years later. They didn't really know what exactly happened, and just chalked it up to death in childbirth. Yami just said to him, "Dad. I brought food." His father snapped out of his mourning, and sighed, putting the ring on his mother's former bedside table, before heading to the table with Yami. They just stayed there, eating, keeping silent vigil as a family.

* * *

**Well, yes, Yami will know Minato Namikaze, and he's friends with all of Team Minato. Hope you guys enjoy this story, even though the updates are a bit chaotic. Anyways, see you next time! Adrestis is out!**


	5. Chapter 5: Gakko

**Chapter 5****: Gakkō (School)**

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**A/N: Konichiwa everyone! Or, if you don't understand Japanese, that's hello. I'm back with another chapter, and this is basically Yami's school life. I hope you all enjoy it! If you want to leave constructive criticism, fine by me, but if you want to flame, just don't read. Anyway, onto the story!**

**Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.**

* * *

Yami just sighed as another spitball hit the back of his head. It was getting very annoying at this point, he mused, as he tuned out the childish insults slung at him by his new bully, Takeshi. Since the day he had come back from the hospital after Kakashi shattered his ribs in the spar that came to be known as the Incident among his peers, Takeshi, a brute with no real intelligence apart from knowing the basics and knowing how to avoid being caught bullying, had begun bullying him for his weakness and near death, and everyone was either too scared to stop it, or just didn't care. Of course, he didn't do it around teachers, but he still did it nonetheless. Well, everyone was scared except for Obito, Rin, and Kakashi.

Obito just growled in annoyance as the spitball hit Yami's head, while Rin looked on in concern and Kakashi just said to him softly, "Yami, you could easily just stop it or tell the teachers. Why aren't you?" Obito basically had to be held back from snapping, and Rin wanted to do something but didn't want to cause conflict. Kakashi, meanwhile, was just straight up annoyed at the fact that Yami wasn't just getting it over with. "Because I am not giving him the satisfaction of a reaction.", Yami replied for the second time this day. Kakashi sighed in annoyance once again, then said, "Well, up to you." Yami hissed back, "If he doesn't quit it, he'll die soon as a ninja. I couldn't care less." Of course, Yami had been training with the trio so that they could all graduate at nearly the same time.

Yami had also made several other friends in his class as well as having made one other close friend who was also an Uchiha: a girl by the name of Yukari Uchiha. She sometimes addressed him as Yami-kun, and Yami just told her repeatedly not to, before giving up and just letting her call him whatever, much to the amusement of the trio of Kakashi, Rin, and Obito. After the class was over, Yami just chuckled as she walked beside him with a bounce in her step. The trio lagged behind, with Obito and Rin talking about how Yukari and Yami could probably get together one day and Kakashi just smiling, though no one could see it, that Yami was happy despite the bullying. As Yami and Yukari sat beside each other and the trio sat behind them, Yami and Yukari checked the lesson and began to debate about the Shinobi Rules and their ethical implications, with Yami debating and stating their advantages and Yukari, the more emotional one, questioned the ethics of leaving your teammate behind for the mission. Takeshi could only sneer, while Obito and Rin giggled and Kakashi just watched, secretly thinking to himself about how he wished he could be free like that.

* * *

Yami sighed as he finished his homework during break, with Yukari just rambling beside him about the lesson material. That was a habit they shared: the rambling. As he finished, Takeshi walked by him, sneering in his brutish voice, "With your_ girlfriend?_" Yukari began to stand up, incensed at his insult, saying, "I'll make that ass pay, I swear-", but Yami yanked on her arm, before pulling her down and shaking his head, saying, "It's not worth it. He's trying to provoke us. Don't bother, Yu.", using his nickname for her. Yukari just said, "But he's been so mean to you!" Yami just said, "His attitude will be his downfall someday. It always is with people like him." Yukari just crossed her arms in annoyance, and Yami just chuckled because it looked cute. Yami then sighed, before standing up along with Yukari and heading to their next class.

Once they got into their Ninjutsu class, the teacher talked about chakra, as well as how to manipulate it. Yami mostly tuned it out in favor of moving through the hand seals on reflex, because he already knew even the advanced principles of chakra, as he had desperately researched for a reason why his condition was like this while confined in the hospital. He took additional notes, putting them in his notebook of chakra related research. Of course, things had to go wrong, so Takeshi proceeded to yank the notebook out of reach like a stereotypical bully and read through it, snorting at the advanced research. Yukari stood up in outrage, and shouted, "Give it back to him, you ass! It's not yours!" Takeshi taunted, "What are you going to do about it?", and Obito was so close to rushing him, only being held back by Rin. Yami just mused, _'Wow. Takeshi really is a normal bully. As in, that is so childish, I cannot believe-'_, but he stopped dead as he saw Yukari start to draw a kunai. He grabbed her hand with his own, making it push the kunai back into the holster, and Yukari looked at him with an indignant look that said 'Why are you stopping me?', and Yami just shook his head. The teacher interrupted and asked, "What's going on?" Obito said, "Takeshi stole Yami's notebook.", and Yami groaned as the teacher ordered Takeshi to give it back, which he did sullenly, grumbling about how teachers were no fun. As Yukari sat down, she shot a look of gratitude at him for stopping her before she did something she would regret.

After class, Yami sat alone at the edge of a cliff and played with a kunai. He sighed softly. He was getting tired of the bullying, and though he hid it from the others, he was really going to snap sooner or later. He just stood, picking up a piece of wood, before hitting a tree, shouting in anger. He did it again, and again until the piece of wood snapped on the 6th strike. He shouted one last time and chucked the wood forcefully. He exhaled, and clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. He then punched a tree and cursed loudly as his knuckles broke in multiple places, as did several of the bones in his hand, though they began healing at an abnormal rate. He sighed as he picked up his bag with his free hand and walked away, headed home. However, he was being watched by the trio and by Yukari, both of them not knowing that the other was there. Yukari had tears in her eyes, and she thought to herself, _'Yami... what's happening to you?'_ Meanwhile, Obito was shocked at Yami's outburst of rage and his whole hand breaking, Rin was saddened that he was hiding this from them, and Kakashi showed nothing, but was hurt that Yami didn't even trust him with this.

* * *

Now that it was the weekend, Yami sat in a tea shop, sipping hot tea after having gone to the hospital and gotten his hand fully healed, though his hand was already mostly healed within that few minutes of him making it to the hospital. Of course, he made sure that no one would know about his whole hand breaking. He checked the time, and reached for his tea cup, misjudging the distance between his hand and the cup. But instead of missing, a black tendril wrapped around the cup securely, then lifted it into his hand, with the loop of the handle fitting onto his finger. He jolted in shock, putting it down and jumping up, yelping. Everyone looked at him weirdly, and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, said sorry, paid extra on his bill, and left, looking at his trembling hands and wondering what was that black tendril. He sighed as he saw the trio nearby, and walked over to them, saying, "Hey guys." They didn't notice him at first, seemingly deep in conversation and debating, and then he tapped Obito on the shoulder, and he turned around suddenly, and they all shut up. Kakashi just said, "Hello. Why are you... a bit rattled? And what's with your trembling hands?" Yami looked at his hands, which were indeed trembling, and he shook them fiercely to stop the trembling. He then exhaled and said, "It's nothing.." Rin looked worried, and Obito just looked at him. Yami then sighed and left, waving goodbye.

Yami aimlessly walked around the Uchiha Compound, not having any destination in mind. He ended up bumping into Yukari, and he said, "Sorry. Wasn't looking where I was-", before cutting himself off when he saw who he had bumped into. Yukari just grabbed his hand and brought him to a bench and sat him down. "We need to talk.", she said in a voice that chilled Yami and made him think, _'Oh no. What's about to happen?'_ Yukari softly asked, "W-why didn't you tell us?" Yami's blood ran cold as he realized that the knew. They _knew._ Yami just said, "W-what are you talking about, Yu?" Yukari said, "You know." Then the trio also walked up, with hurt expressions, and Yami jolted, every single muscle in his body tensed and ready to run. Kakashi softly said, "Yami. Why didn't you tell us?" Yami said in reply, "Didn't want to trouble you guys. Not like it really matters anyway." Yukari shouted, "Doesn't matter?! You broke your hand, Yami! Your WHOLE hand! We want to help! Why won't you let us? Don't you trust us?" Yami stayed silent, then said, "I'm sorry." Yukari hugged him tightly and cried. Yami just hugged back. Obito and Rin high-fived, and Kakashi smiled, now that things were fixed.

* * *

From the moment he woke up on that school day, he had a feeling that things would go south really fast. What he didn't know was that it would end in a murder. For starters, his shoes were somehow on the table, and Yami winced, as this was one sign of bad luck. Next, after he finished his breakfast of rice, miso soup and fish alone, as his father had gone out for a mission, he had left his chopsticks straight up in the rice multiple times before he finished and washed the dishes. As he had been walking down the street, he nearly tripped over at least 3 black cats and had seen 2 more on the way to the Academy. Of course, he was a bit scared, because black cats were a symbol of bad luck. But the real trouble was when he saw the Academy: there were at least 2 dozen crows perched on parts of the Academy. He was very unnerved at this point, and then he asked one of his peers, a boy by the name of Hito Eisin, "Hito, do you see crows on the Academy?" Hito looked at him weirdly and asked, "Yami-san, are you okay?" Yami sighed at the honorific which most of his peers called him by, and said, "Never mind. Thanks anyway." Hito nodded and walked in, leaving Yami rather freaked out. "Am I hallucinating?", he asked as he headed in.

Yami sat down at his desk, with a blank look on his face. The trio looked at him in worry as he began sketching out the Academy building with crows on it, utterly quiet. After finishing the rough sketch, he wrote on it, **'Why am I seeing these crows? What does this mean?'** Yami put away the drawing and sat there. Eventually, Takeshi walked in, and sneered at Yami, "What's with your expression, egghead? Your mother beat you or something?" Yukari shouted at him, as did the trio, but Yami didn't hear it, his pulse pounding in his ears. He noticed that dark energy with tinges of blue began creeping on him, and then his vision went black and he knew no more.

When he came to, he was straddling a limp Takeshi, his knuckles bruised, painful and covered in blood, and blood seeping from Takeshi's caved in head and bruises and wounds on Takeshi's face as well as a broken nose and several missing teeth. Blood was everywhere on the floor, as well as teeth. He was holding what looked like a pipe wrench made of dark energy, with blood. His hands shook and he dropped the wrench, which dissipated, and then he whimpered softly, "Wh-what... what h-happened?" One look at the class saw their horrified faces, and Yami went numb as Chunin instructors pulled him away, shouting things that he couldn't hear over the blood rushing in his ears.

Later on, Yami learned what had happened in that moment of blackout. That dark energy had enveloped him, and his eyes had turned vibrant blue. He had growled out, **"Never insult my mother in front of me!"**, in a dark voice, before leaping at him with inhuman speed, with Takeshi hitting the ground and Yami landing on top of him. Yami then began beating him with his fists relentlessly, not stopping even when his knuckles had cracked. His fists had been cloaked with dark energy and he had shattered Takeshi's nose and smashed out several of his teeth. When Chunin instructors tried to interfere, tendrils of darkness had slammed them away. Eventually, after Takeshi stopped struggling and simply begged for him to stop, he proceeded to form the shadow energy around his fists into a wrench, and had smashed it into Takeshi's head repeatedly, making him go limp. (At this point of the story, Yami had gone deathly pale, and had puked for a solid minute.) Then he had woken up.

* * *

After that happened, Yami was taken to a prison cell in the base of the Konoha Military Police Force. Fugaku came by and just looked at him, with an unreadable expression, before moving on. Yami just sat there, and looked at the dried blood on his palms and knuckles, trying to scrub it away and failing. He also noticed that now he had tattoos of a black moon on his left and a white circle on his right. He softly whimpered as he looked at his hands, "I killed someone... I killed someone.." He then stayed utterly silent, staring at the wall. He then softly said, "It will result in execution, right?" Fugaku heard this and said, "No. It may result in prison, but I doubt you did it on purpose. From what I've read from eyewitness accounts, you weren't really you during the incident." "Is... is Takeshi dead?" Fugaku nodded stiffly, and Yami went silent, curling in on himself slightly, as if to become smaller and hide from the guilt that plagued him. Fugaku said, "You will remain here until the trial, where you will be brought in front of the Konoha Council, as well as me and maybe a Yamanaka interrogator to confirm your testimony." Yami nodded stiffly, and stayed there, thinking.

An hour or so later, his father ran into the station, seeing Yami just there, silent, in the cell. He ran to him, and Yami looked up, his expression changing from blank to happy for a second, then going back to blank. "Hey, Dad." Fugaku looked at him and nodded, "Taiyo." Taiyo said to his son, "Yami. Look. I don't blame you for all of this. I heard about what happened, and I know it isn't your fault." Yami said, "Thanks, dad." Taiyo pulled out Yami's bag and left it on the desk, and then said, "Here. I got it from the Academy. I have to go and file the mission report for the Hokage, but I'll be back soon, okay?" Yami nodded, and Taiyo waved before leaving slowly.

Several minutes later, Yami was allowed his notebook and pencil, but not before making sure that the pencil tip was blunt and rounded, which it was, since Yami preferred drawing with those kinds of pencils. He drew on instinct, making the drawing of a humanoid of dark energy. He then pulled out the drawing of the crows on the Academy, and sighed, before erasing the questions he wrote down and wrote, **'Now I know.'** He sighed, then Fugaku said, "You have visitors." Yami asked, "Fugaku-san, who is it? I'd prefer to know before they come in." "It's a trio of kids. One's got a mask, one's Obito Uchiha, and the third is a girl." Yami said, "I want to see them." Fugaku nodded and walked out, before the trio walked in, before running to his cell.

Obito said, "Damn. They really put you in a cell?" "Yup. Thing has chakra-absorption seals. Not like I'm trying to get out. Managed to copy them though for future research." Kakashi said nothing, while Obito grinned, and said, "Seems like you." Rin then asked, "Are.. are you okay?" "I just murdered someone, Rin. My own classmate, nonetheless. Don't you see the blood on my hands? I'm a bloody murderer!", he shouted, a pulse of anger coming from him and dark energy pulsing from his body, as well as his eyes turning a mix of black and vibrant blue, for one second. The trio recoiled, and Fugaku checked in, as Yami exhaled, and said, "I'm sorry." He hung his head, and he felt a pounding at the nape of his neck. Heat spread around his body, before concentrating in his eyes. He thought, _'What? Is this.. fire chakra? Why is it pulsing? Awakening?" _Yami looked up, and Fugaku and Obito gasped. "What is it?", Yami asked. "Sharingan... with three tomoe? How.. isn't that impossible?", Fugaku asked as he looked at Yami's new Sharingan eyes. Yami's vision was red, and instead of just seeing his friends and Fugaku-san, he saw blue fires in their cores. _'Chakra... Okay, I need to stop before I drain all my chakra.' _Yami turned off the Sharingan and groaned, rubbing his eyes, which were sore. He also felt drained, which was expected. Yami just sighed and said, "I think visiting hours are over? Besides, it's getting dark. You guys should head home. Don't worry about me." The trio hesitated, but eventually left.

After they left, Yami just sat on the cot and thought. He then looked Fugaku in the eyes and said, "If I do get convicted, Fugaku-san... what will happen to me?" Fugaku hesitated, and then avoided the question, saying, "No, you won't be. You're innoce-" But Yami cut him off, saying, "With all due respect, Fugaku-san, I doubt the Council will believe it. They're prejudiced against the Uchiha. Please, Fugaku-san, be honest with me." The chief of the Police Force stayed silent, then said, "Then you will either face either at least 20 years in prison, since you can plead insanity and because your crime was manslaughter according to the eyewitnesses, or if they manage to charge you for murder, permanent imprisonment. But the worst case scenario is.." Fugaku trailed off, not saying the worst case scenario, but Yami already knew. "Execution. Either that or forced seppuku." Fugaku nodded, and said, "They'll give you a few days before it if it does happen, though very unlikely." Yami just sighed and nodded. The silence hung in the air for a few minutes, then Fugaku walked away, but not before leaving a standard prison meal: a bowl of rice, a bowl of miso soup, grilled fish on a plate and a glass of water, as well as chopsticks. Yami ate, the dishes were taken away, and Yami sat there, waiting for his trial with the feeling of the axe already raised over his head and his fate sealed.

* * *

**Yami just had his first kill. Well, it's not really HIM per se, but that'll be explained later. I couldn't find any sources for prison food, so I went with standard Japanese prison food, which is surprisingly good. As for the whole Sharingan having three tomoe immediately, it's possible, and the Sage of Six Paths did it before. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter's Yami's trial, and hopefully the rest of his school life and early graduation along with Obito and Rin (He's been training with them and helping them get better). Main reason why I'm making them graduate early is because the timelines are messed up, and there is a possible explanation, but I'll just take the easy way out. Aight, please review if you have constructive criticism, and this is Adrestis, leaving til next time!**


	6. Chapter 6: Saiban, Muzai, Soshite-

**Chapter 6****: Saiban, Muzai, Soshite Ushinawareta Muzai (Trial, Innocence and Loss of Innocence)**

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**A/N: Hello, everybody! Now, we've gotten to the chapter where Yami's trial happens. Of course, from the title of this chapter, you probably already know exactly what happens, but please read on regardless. Anyway, if you have constructive criticism or reviews, please say them, but if you want to flame, just don't read. Anyway, let's get on with the story. Please, keep in mind I do not know exactly how crimes are judged in Naruto, so I'm improvising.**

**Chapter Trigger Warning: Depression, Implied Self-Harm, Results of Self-Harm**

**Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.**

* * *

Yami sat there, waiting. It had been a day since his arrest, and he had slept in the same prison cell he was placed into the previous day. His dad had visited two more times. He didn't really mind, as he had his notebook and pencil. Though, to be honest, he hadn't really slept much, staying up drawing and thinking. He knew that the trial would either be today or tomorrow, and after eating the same meal from before for breakfast, he drew a rather morbid sketch of him with an axe hanging over his head, ready to swing down and sever his head. After that, he began experimenting with shadows. Or at least, tried to. He managed to make a tendril of shadow throw him his pencil, but he couldn't really make it do any fine motor skills, and if he tried to pour more chakra in, it just dissipated, most likely due to the seals. He eventually waited, until finally, Fugaku walked up to the cell and opened the door, before putting handcuffs with chakra restraining seals on Yami's wrists and saying, "The trial's scheduled for today." Yami nodded, then asked, "How many chakra restraining seals does the Force have?" Fugaku replied, "One in every cell, and at least twice that number's worth of handcuffs." Yami just sighed and followed Fugaku out of the station.

They went down streets, and ignored the stares thrown their way until they made it to the Academy, and then into the office of the Hokage. They were then escorted into a room with a long table that had multiple chairs, which were occupied by the Sandaime, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Konoha Council of Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, as well as Inoichi Yamanka and Shikaku Nara, the Jonin Commander. There was also a seat left for Fugaku, and he patted Yami on the shoulder in reassurance, before sitting in his designated chair. Yami was sat down in the chair opposite the Hokage by a member of the ANBU who then left the room. He betrayed no emotion on his face as Fugaku pulled out a scroll and read, "We are here for the trial of Yami Uchiha under charges of killing his classmate, Takeshi Sanjuro. Present are the Sandaime Hokage, the Konoha Council, the Head of the Konoha Military Police Force, Inoichi Yamanaka and the Jonin Commander.."

* * *

The trial took a very long time, and that was only the questioning of the Yamanaka interrogator, Fugaku-san and Skikaku-san. The Hokage merely watched, and then the questioning of the Konoha Council began. With each question, Yami began having a headache that grew worse and worse, and a weird rebellious anger that he didn't even know the reason of. He also noticed dark energy floating from his body that dissipated, which no one noticed. Eventually, Danzo asked him, "So, was it intentional or not? Did you mean to hurt him or kill him?" It was such a loaded question, and Yami's headache was really bad at this point. Danzo asked him the same question when he rubbed his temples in pain and refused to answer. When Danzo asked the question for the third time, Yami screamed in pain and the dark energy that wisped off from his body formed into a humanoid with vibrant blue eyes.

Yami exhaled, relieved that the pain was over, but then he looked at the shadow humanoid with confusion. The shadow humanoid, meanwhile, said, **"It is not his fault. He didn't know what happened. It was my influence that changed him into... whatever form he took. Check his memories. You will either find blank space or locked away memories."** Danzo said accusingly, "How can we trust you when you say you were the one who influenced him to commit this murder? Tell us why we should not have you or the boy killed." Hiruzen looked at Danzo reprovingly and opened his mouth to object to killing Yami, but he was cut off by a cold, mirthless, dark laugh from the being. **"I know your type: the warhawk. Always scheming, always planning."** At this point, Danzo was shut up, and the shadow continued,** "You really think you can kill ME? I have lived longer than Konoha itself. I am a Kagenokami." **

At this point, Shikaku intervened, saying, "Have I heard that term before? I feel like I've heard it or something similar to it." **"Kagenoko. The term for children hosting Kagenokami like me."** Shikaku nodded, and then asked, "Isn't that the term for children with a severly imbalanced Yin to Yang chakra core ratio of at least 6:4, with only 1 in 20 infancy survival rate and a 1 in 10 survival chance of making it to 18?" The shadow nodded, then said, **"Well, due to our nature as beings composed of nearly pure Yin chakra, our residence in their bodies is sort of disruption to their chakra core, because of how much we feed off their Yang chakra and release Yin chakra into their bodies." **Shikaku nodded, while Yami just made a mental note to ask more about that later.

Danzo interrupted, asking, "Isn't this meant to be his trial? Are we still not discussing the charges of murder?", with a tone of underlying malice. Hiruzen said, "I feel that our.. friend here," he gestured to the shadow humanoid, and continued, "..has proven that Yami here is innocent. The evidence also shows that Yami was provoked. However, let's just make sure. Inoichi-san, check his memories." Yami just sighed, and let the Yamanaka walk up to him, put his hand on his head, and use Saiko Denshin (Psycho Mind Transmission) to enter his mind.

* * *

Inoichi looked around within the boy's mindscape. The boy's memory was rather organized, with shelves that had labels and scrolls atop them. These shelves were behind three open doors, which were labeled Memory, Thoughts and Training. He went into Memory, noticing that there were heavy duty chains and chain attachment points behind the door, meaning the kid could close off his mind. Good that he was letting this happen. Inoichi browsed Yami's memories, with the foremost shelves being the newest ones and the shelves at the back being the oldest. He went down until he made it to the row of the day before yesterday. He noticed that one shelf was enveloped in a cloud of dark energy and headed for that one. He slipped into the dark cloud, and he could barely see through the black mist in front of him. He then noticed two vibrant blue eyes in the mist, and then a shadow version of the kid, the owner of those blue eyes said, **"Get out!"**, before grabbing Inoichi and, despite his resistance, threw him out of the mist and out of Yami's mindscape.

* * *

In the real world, Yami gasped for a second as his eyes flashed blue and Inoichi was flung across the room, managing to stop himself before he hit the wall. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow as Yami groaned and Inoichi caught his breath. The Yamanaka then said, "Yes, the memories of that day were locked off inside some black mist." He then turned to the shadow and said, "But you never told me there would be a different form of the kid here who would throw me out of his mind, Kagenokami-san." The shadow said, **"I mean, I didn't expect there would be, but guess that's Yami's Hatred Form."** "Hatred Form?", Yami asked in confusion. The shadow said, **"Eh, since it's triggered by extreme hate, I decided to call it that."** The Hokage cleared his throat and, once he had gotten the attention of the room, said, "Yami Uchiha is pardoned, due to evidence shown of provocation, and of locked away memories relating to the incident." Yami did not rejoice like they would've thought, simply nodding with a blank gaze to show he understood, then silently Shunshin-ed out of the room once his handcuffs were released, leaving the door open. Fugaku sighed as he looked at the open door, thinking, _'That poor boy..'_

* * *

Yami made it back to the house, went into the bathroom, and furiously scrubbed away at the blood on his hands in the sink. He grit his teeth in anger, for once letting the poison of his thoughts whisper into his ear. _'You killed him.' _"I know.." _'You murdered an orphan.' _"I know, damnit." _'You WANTED it. You ENJOYED it, you sadistic bitch.' _"Shut up.." _'Just how you murdered your mother.' _"SHUT UP!", Yami shouted, punching the wall, and whimpering in pain when he broke his knuckles. He then noticed that his fist has left cracks in the wall. He stayed quiet, even as the voice in his head laughed. He sighed, having a feeling that he knew what was happening to him.

He had heard it all before. Depression, self-harm, the premature end of promising shinobi careers, all because of the trauma of their first kill. He knew just how traumatizing the first kill was, from all the reports he had read about it to prepare himself for it. But those people had been genin, or even chunin, when that had happened to them, and he was an Academy student. A goddamn student. He could feel it. The rage boiling inside him, just waiting for the right moment to be released once again. He couldn't let that happen, not here, not ever. He saw what damage his Hatred Form could bring, and he didn't want anyone else, especially not the people he cared about, to end up in the way of it. He made a decision. He took out a kunai, laid it on the side of the bathtub, and drew a bath, locking the bathroom door.

* * *

Yukari, Kakashi, Obito and Rin were frantically looking for Yami. They had looked in the Military Police base, but one of the officers commented that Yami's trial was today, and how the poor kid had to testify in front of the Konoha Council, Jonin Commander, the commander of the KMPF and a Yamanaka interrogator. Then they looked for Fugaku-san, and when they found him, the man said that the trial was done, Yami was pardoned, and had promptly Shunshin-ed away immediately. Now they were checking everywhere for him. The quartet agreed to split up and look around, to cover more ground.

Kakashi made it to the training ground where they had trained with Yami, and went into the clearing, looking around and calling for Yami, seeing the targets Yami used for training. The sound of footsteps made him turn, but only Minato came out of the trees. "Who're you looking for?" "Yami, Minato-san. Have you seen him anywhere? His trial's done, and we're looking for him because he apparently Shunshin-ed out of the room afterwards." Minato said, "I mean, on the way here, I got bumped by someone who Shunshin-ed too near to me. I couldn't see him properly, but he had black hair." Kakashi said, "Where? Where did you see him?" Minato said, "Um, I think near the Uchiha Compound?" Kakashi nodded, and asked, "Minato-san, do you want to help?" Minato nodded, and the two left, heading out to search.

Meanwhile, Obito ran to the place where him, Kakashi, Rin and Yami had gyoza before, and went up to the cashier person and asked, "Um, hello. Have you seen a boy, my size and age, with black hair around here? Or maybe someone Shunshin-ing?" The cashier said, "I mean, we see people Shunshin-ing all day, but yes, we recently saw someone Shunshin-ing headed that way.", before pointing towards the Uchiha Compound. Obito nodded, said, "Thanks!", then ran toward the Compound, swearing at Yami for not teaching them Shunshin.

Rin ran down the street before heading into one of the shinobi shops which sold weaponry. Yami always liked going to these, and when they trained with these weapons, it left the trio with a newfound respect for ninja tools. This was one of his favorite shops, so Rin went to the cashier, Buki Ryoma, and asked, "Ryoma-san, have you seen Yami anywhere? Or anyone Shunshin-ing around?" Buki commented, "I saw Yami stopping after Shunshin-ing outside, taking a breath then Shunshin-ing again that way." He pointed toward the direction of the Uchiha Compound, and Rin said, "Thank you!", before running out in that direction.

Yukari ran into the Uchiha Compound, looking for Yami's house. She had a bad feeling that something was going to happen to him as she ran down the streets. Eventually, she made it to the house, and knocked. "Yami-kun? It's Yukari! Can you open the door please?" After getting no response, she opened the door and went inside, hearing the sound of running water. She looked around, finding Yami nowhere, then knocked on the bathroom door, where the sound was coming from. After once again, getting no response, she tried to twist the doorknob, but it was locked.

She swore softly, before forcing the door open, only to see red and pink-tinged water on the floor, a bloody kunai near the bathtub, and Yami with the clothes he wore to the trial in the bathtub, which was filled with water mixed with blood. The tap was running, and his wrists were slit. His expression was peaceful, but his skin was pale from blood loss, and he was barely breathing. Yukari froze for a second, before grabbing his shoulders, trying to pull him out of the bathtub the best she could, calling and shouting for help. Yami's eyes opened a bit, and he looked up at Yukari's panicked face in dazed, hazy confusion, before everything went black. He heard shouts, crying, and pleas, but they were fuzzy. And then, nothing.

* * *

**Aight, I'm gonna end it on a cliffhanger here. I was planning on including the whole recovery here, but I decided to just cut it off here for now. And I'm actually split between letting Obito and Rin graduate early along with Kakashi and Yami, or just ignoring chapter 599 where it says Kakashi was part of Team Minato even though Obito and Rin haven't even graduated yet and having Kakashi and Yami be solo. I might go for the latter, but you guys can choose. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll be back soon for another chapter. Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7: Kaifuku To Yoha

**Chapter 7: Kaifuku T****o Yoha (Recovery and Aftermath)**

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone! Adrestis here! Got around to making another chapter. Also, sorry for the whole self-harm cliche and the angst and stuff. I'm just going to do it now, so that I don't have to do it later on. It was less of an emotional decision on Yami's part and more of an intellectual decision. It was a mix of the stress of the trial, the shock of his first kill and the discovery of his Hatred Form that made him decide to do it, so that what happened with Takeshi wouldn't happen with one of his peers. Also, I may try to include Yami's P.O.V., but it'll depend on my writing style. Anyway, hope you all enjoy!**

**Slight Chapter Trigger Warning: Implied Self-Harm (From the previous chapter.)**

**Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.**

* * *

Yami slipped in and out of consciousness over and over. He would see color, hear things distantly and see blurry faces. But he would always lapse back into the void of unconsciousness. One time, he heard a voice that sounded like his dad's saying, "Come on, son. Don't give up! Please!" Another time he heard a girl crying, as he hazily wondered who that was. Distantly, he could barely hear a voice berating someone. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes into hours and hours into days. And finally, he woke up.

Yami slowly opened his eyes, blinking away what remained of his slumber, before slowly sitting up, wearing his own clothes. The smell of antiseptic hit his nose, and he groaned in annoyance. _'Great, I'm in the hospital. Wait. I'm in the hospital?' _He blinked in utter confusion, then rubbed his temples. Well, he was about to, anyway, but he noticed bandages stained in red on his wrists, and then he remembered. He groaned as the memories flooded back, and pain spiked in his head before dying down. _'Wait.. if I'm not dead, then who saved me?' _Yami didn't really regret the decision, but he knew that since he was saved, his peers would know, and there would be hell to pay.

After realizing this, he softly swore, then covered his mouth, mortified at swearing and at losing his composure. Once he made sure that no one heard, he took his hand off of his mouth, absentmindedly shaking it, only to whimper as pain spiked in his wrist and more red stained the bandages. He carefully held his wrist, hissing. He then inhaled, before slowly activating his Sharingan for the first time since its awakening. He saw the world in red, and could see several blue flames inside of humanoids outside his room. _'Chakra... but who are those people?'_ He groaned as he began to get drained, so he deactivated his Sharingan and slumped back onto the pillows, sighing in relief at the comfort. He then thought, _'Wait, what happened_ He then heard the sounds of footsteps, and perked up, before a nurse walked in and said, "Uchiha-san, you have visitors." She had a sympathetic expression on, and Yami hated it. Then the nurse walked out, and his dad walked in first, before sitting beside his bed.

Both father and son remained silent for a few minutes, until Taiyo broke down in tears and said, "I'm so sorry, son. I failed you.", sobbing all the while. Yami began crying, and hugged him, saying, "N-no you didn't, Dad. I failed _you._ This is my fault. And I am so, so sorry." They just stayed that way for a long time. After they broke the hug, Taiyo said, "Y'know, kid, your friends are outside." Yami just said, "Oh no.", as Taiyo said, "And they're worried, and may actually give you hell for this." Yami groaned, as Taiyo laughed and they just stayed there, until Taiyo said, "Alright, I'll let your friends see you." He walked out grinning as Yami called, "No, dad, don't dooo that! They'll give me hell! Noo!"

Yami sat there, until Obito and Rin came in, berating him for being stupid enough to do something like that and for making them worry so much. Once they stopped, Yami took the oppurtunity and asked, "Um, guys, where's Kakashi?" Obito said, "I dunno.", while Rin said, "Something about his dad and having to attend a funeral?" Yami said, "Oh, ok-", before jolting in shock as he processed what Rin had said. Who would that funeral be for? Kakashi had no other family aside from his dad, and his mother had presumably died early, before he had met Kakashi, so that left.. "Sakumo-san."

They jumped at his sudden outburst, and then Yami asked, "How long have I been unconscious?" Obito replied with a confused tone, "Um, a week or two?" Yami immediately swore, and then got up from the bed, feeling woozy, and despite the protests of Obito and Rin, he ripped out the needles of his feeding tube and the blood transfusion he had been given to compensate for his blood loss. He felt a sharp pain in his arms where the needles had been injected, but ignored it and the shouts of Obito and Rin in favor of Shunshin-ing out of the room, past Yukari who was also waiting and noticed Rin, Obito and a nurse chasing after the person using Shunshin. Once she realized who it was, she went after them too.

Yami frantically flickered through the streets, looking for the Hatake Compound, ignoring the pain in his arms and wrists from being jarred so suddenly. He made it to the Compound and saw Kakashi looking at a grave with a blank expression. He slowly walked up until he was beside Kakashi, looking at the grave with the label of Sakumo Hatake. They stayed there until Kakashi said, "Father... he broke the Shinobi Rules. He saved his teammates when he could've finished the mission. He was a disgrace." Yami softly said, "I think that he was a hero, honestly." Kakashi recoiled, his face a mask of shock, and Yami said, "There will always be missions, but you can never truly replace someone. You can't replace their life, their happiness, their joy, their hopes, their dreams. There will never truly be another like them again." Kakashi remained silent, and Yami said, "I came to pay respects to your father. He was a great man." Yami drew from inside, and then created a bouquet of carnations out of dark energy, laying them on the grave and then passing out as the bandages on his wrists were stained once again with pure red.

* * *

Yami woke up in his bed again, and found that this time, he was literally restrained to the bed. "Greeat. Well, I guess this makes sense, considering how stupid I was last time.. wait, how long was I out now?" A female voice said, "Only a day." Yami turned and saw Yukari, and upon seeing the anger on her face, thought to himself, _'Great. Well, I'm gonna have hell to pay.'_ He was snapped out of his thoughts by a scroll which landed on his lap. He immediately recognized it as the scroll he had written to explain his actions before attempting to kill himself.

**_Flashback_**

_Yami sighed and began writing on a scroll, hoping to, in some way, somehow, explain WHY he was taking this incredibly insane course of action. **'Hello. To anyone who reads this, I'm dead. Hopefully. That depends whether or not you made it in time to save me. But I guess I need to explain why I did this. I don't want anyone to get hurt, because of that thing that I can become. Shadow called it a Hatred Form, so I'll use that term. I don't want to do to others what I did to him. I just want to say that it isn't your fault. It is mine, and mine alone. Dad, thank you for taking care of me, for helping me grow into who I am now. I'm sorry for wasting all that you taught me. Kakashi, Obito, Rin, thank you for being my friends. Sorry for cutting off our friendship in this way. Yukari, thank you for being there for me. Goodbye to all of you. Sincerely, Yami Uchiha.'** __Once he finished that, he rolled up the scroll and went back into the bathroom, knowing that this would either end in his death or him being saved. He sorely wished it was the former._

**_End of Flashback_**

Yami knew exactly how this would go down, and he was afraid. He knew the phrase, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.', had seen some results of that, and did not want to be the recieving end of it. Yukari began by shouting, "WHY?! WHY WERE YOU SO RECKLESS, YAMI?!" Yami just stayed silent, deciding it was better for her to let it all out NOW rather than making it stronger by stopping her halfway through her rant. She ranted for a good minute about how Yami could be so reckless and why the heck did he decide to do that and the fact that what he did was utterly stupid. She then suddenly broke down into sobbing and hugged him tight, causing him to stiffen in shock before hugging back. She sobbed into his shirt and said, "I.. I care about you, okay? I don't like what you're doing to yourself. I don't WANT you to keep hurting yourself like this!" Yami just softly said, "I'm sorry. What I did was so stupid, I know. I just..." "..saw no other way.", Yukari finished softly. Yami sighed, saying, "You know me all too well.", and Yukari replied, "We are friends, after all." Yami said, "Yeah. That is true.", and they stayed there for a while, in the company of each other, as friends.

Yami eventually said, "Um, can you please get off? You're kinda heavy, and I really wanna work more on my research." Yukari snickered, sitting up, and commented, "Having trouble?" Yami groaned, recalling all his failed attempts to utilize his affinities, and said, "Please. Don't remind me, Yu." Yukari giggled, and said, "You burned yourself and a few trees when you tried the Great Fireball, then proceeded to shock yourself with Raiton. Rin thought Obito would die of laughter when that happened." Yami let out a long sigh, and Yukari laughed. He liked the sound of her laugh, how it burst out when she couldn't control herself and the mirth and joy in it. She eventually calmed down and commented, "Aren't you, like, a prodigy?" Yami just said, "Um, no, I just absorb knowledge fast. If anything, Kakashi's a prodigy. Heck, even prodigies can be stumped sometimes. Everyone has a limit. I'd say Kakashi's limit is more mental than physical." Yukari nodded, then asked, "How are your jutsu ideas going?" Yami said, "I've made a bunch of ideas, some bukijutsu, some ninjutsu. I'm hoping to start on fuinjutsu, see how I can incorporate those into my training. Thing is, most of my ninjutsu ideas involve elemental abilities, and I need to get out of the hospital before I can do anything regarding those. So yeah, most of the ideas are staying theoretical." Yukari nodded, and they kept this up until she had to leave. Then they did it the next day, along with Rin and Obito. And this became routine as long as Yami stayed in the hospital.

* * *

Eventually, once he recovered, which took two weeks, he was sent back to the Academy. He and Kakashi had frostier relations now, due to their differing opinions, but they still had respect for each other. However, Yami had changed in his demeanor and his actions. He had become quieter, darker, preferring to stay in the shadows rather than show himself to the light. He also focused more on research, slowly but surely beginning to overwork himself as he studied things on Jonin level, specializing in the areas of Fuinjutsu, Ninjutsu and Bukijutsu. He still carried the trauma of his first kill too, and this showed in how he froze up after seeing the fading bloodstain which was on the floor in the classroom where he had beaten up and possibly killed Takeshi. He also became colder, and this showed through his spars as well, with his moves now turning quick, fluid and clinical, causing damage without fail and with Yami being utterly emotionless the whole fight. People began avoiding him, not just because of the fact that he had murdered someone but also because of the aura of death and darkness he began exuding. Of course, he didn't really care, since he just plunged himself deeper into his studies. The only people he was still sociable towards were the trio and Yukari.

He began training with a wakizashi, as well as batons and a bo staff, training in various fighting styles, from the standard taijutsu katas, to more unconventional katas, such as the Hammer Fist, which involved striking with the base of the fist rather than the knuckles like a hammer, hence the name. He also studied kenjutsu, iaido and bojutsu, as well as shurikenjutsu and a fighting style known as Escrima, which involved the batons he used as well, though he could easily use Escrima with blades as well. He also began disguising himself using the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) and poring over every volume of fuinjutsu and every jutsu scroll in every library in Konoha, including the Uchiha library, that he could find, copying down what he could and absorbing the information.

He was also trying to utilize his elemental affinities, and while he was able to use Katon (Fire Release) techniques such as the Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball Technique), the Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Sage Fire Technique) and the Zukokku (Intelligent Hard Work/Cranium Carver), as well as Futon (Wind Release) techniques such as Futon: Atsugai (Wind Style: Pressure Damage), the Reppūshō (Gale Palm), and Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough), he was having trouble with utilizing Raiton (Lightning Release) and was pretty much stumped as to how the heck to use Inton (Yin Release). He had read that Yin Release was involved with genjutsu and it was associated with the Sharingan and the genjutsu it could cast, but didn't really know any genjutsu yet so he couldn't exactly utilize his Inton. Eventually, he was able to find some D-rank and C-rank genjutsu in one of the Konoha Libraries and the Uchiha Library, such as the Konoha-Ryū Yanagi (Leaf-Style Willow), a kenjutsu-genjutsu hybrid, the Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique) which showed its victim their worst fear, the Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique), which changed the victim's perception of their surroundings, and Kyōsei Suimin (Forced Sleep), which forcibly put its victim to sleep via physical contact.

Currently, he was in class, waiting for his turn in a sparring match. He watched as Yukari managed to force one of his peers to admit defeat, and how Kakashi and Obito clashed. Eventually, his turn came up, with him having to fight against Kanno Kasabaru, a boy his age who was large, similar to Takeshi's build. After they both formed the Seal of Confrontation, the instructor shouted, "Hajime!" Kanno rushed forward, raising his arm to punch Yami, who just shifted into an oblique, triangular stance, one foot forward with the other to the rear, his body facing about 45⁰. He then reduced his frontal area and turned away his vital spots from Kanno. He slightly flexed his knees, and prepared to block the blow. But right as his opponent threw the punch, Yami saw the face of Takeshi instead, sneering, saying the same insult that had been his doom, and he moved. He abruptly stepped to the side, dodging the punch with ease, his face blank, and he shifted into a different stance and pulled back his fist before throwing the punch in a second, hitting Kanno right in the face, breaking his nose and sending him down.

Yami stood there, not moving, watching as one of the watching instructors picked up the kid and took him to the infirmary, and the instructor acting as the referee declared him the winner by TKO. Yami slowly lowered his arms, and turned his head ever so slightly to see most of his peers gaping, but Rin just looked at him with understanding in her eyes, Kakashi ignored him and Yukari just looked saddened. Yami let out a long exhale, and walked back, most of his peers giving him a wide berth as he stood beside Yukari, who just gripped his hand tight, having done this before to remind him that she can help. He gripped back, and sighed, letting go of her hand and pulling out a notebook to write in as the next spar began.

* * *

Later on, during break time, Yami just spun a kunai in his hand by the loop at the end using his pinky, walking through the halls of the Academy. Normally, he would be writing, or debating with Yukari, or talking to Rin and Obito. But recently, he had taken up another activity: dealing with bullies. He didn't want people to have to deal with bullies like he had with Takeshi. He grinned sadistically to himself as he heard sounds of taunting and a struggle nearby. The voice in his head, which he now called Shadow, said to him, **"Do you need my help?" **Yami thought back to him, _'Well, if you could show your presence behind me when I'm going to intimidate them, that would help. As would some Killing Intent, just to be on the safe side.' _**"Alright then." **

Yami walked towards the sound, and saw two boys taller than him, presumably from the senior class, harassing a younger boy, carrying several books and scrolls. Yami just sighed at the stereotypicality of it all, as the seniors jeered at the smaller boy, and then the kid saw Yami and froze in shock. The two seniors turned and saw the kid, just spinning a kunai, watching them with a grin that looked anything but happy. "So. What's happening here?", Yami said, with a falsely sweet voice. They all knew this kid's reputation from the rumors that had spread around the school like wildfire. To their credit, they held their ground, and one of them asked, trying his best to put bravado in his voice as he asked, "Why does it matter, you little shit? You gonna stop us? We can easily beat you." Yami just took note of the senior's attempted bravado, and the quaking in his voice, and concluded that all he had to do was put proper fear into them.

From the moment that darkness kid came up to them, Izo knew that he and Taro were _screwed. _They had heard the rumors, about a junior year kid who had murdered his bully using the darkness itself. But he and Taro had, stupidly, ignored them. And now that very same freaking kid was RIGHT THERE, IN FRONT OF THEM. Of course, Taro had tried to be brave, but even he could tell how badly Taro had failed, from the quaking in his voice. He winced, and knew that the damn kid noticed it all, from the look of his cold, analysing eyes. He felt like a fucking coward, but realized he was justified as he looked in those cold eyes, which sent a chill down his spine. No matter what anyone said or how he acted, Izo was NOT an idiot and a brute only. He could notice social cues, and was perceptive. He had to be, since he was the one who made sure no one noticed their bullying.

Now, as he saw that goddamned terrifying grin on the kid's face, Izo was scared. Was the kid going to murder them like he did to that bully? Would he hide his and Taro's bodies so thoroughly that no one would ever be able to find them? The kid just put the kunai into a holster on his leg, and looked at them, making eye contact with them both even though they tried their damndest to look away. And when he looked in Izo's eyes, Izo saw not a kid in those eyes, but a war-hardened person like those Jonin he saw around when he walked through Konoha. But then the shift was terrifying. Suddenly, the kid's eyes turned red, and three comma-shaped things connected by a ring rotated around the pupil of the kid's eyes, and Izo no longer saw that war-hardened person, but a sadistic demon. He felt unbearable pressure so great he could barely breathe, felt pure hatred and anger, all coming from this kid. It was an immense amount of Killing Intent, and ever since then, Izo and Taro both swore that they could see a demon made of shadow grinning at them from behind the kid. Izo knew that he and Taro would be fucked if they tried to fight, so Izo, the wiser of the two, grabbed Taro and made a run for it.

Yami sighed as he watched one of the seniors grab the other and bolt, and waited until they were out of sight and earshot before dropping the Killing Intent. He thought that if that they HAD decided to fight, he could beat them, but if they landed a good blow or two, he would be screwed. Not for the first time, he cursed his frail body and then turned to the kid they had been bullying, who was still scared. Yami sighed, then picked up the books and scrolls that had been scattered and handed them to the boy before offering him a hand up, which he took. "What's your name?", Yami asked, and the kid looked at him and said, "Hito Eisin." "You're the same person I talked to about crows I saw on the Academy. I remember." Hito just blinked, and then realized that, yeah, on the day of Takeshi's death, Yami HAD talked to him about seeing crows on the Academy which he couldn't see. In hindsight, considering how crows like to feast on carrion, and how they're generally considered a sign of bad luck and death, Hito probably should've warned him. Yami commented, "What's up with all the books and scrolls?" Hito replied, "Just some studying. Trying to find different katas and jutsu." "Huh. Cool." The bell saying that there were five minutes before the end of break sounded, and Yami waved before running back through the halls.

* * *

After class, Yami went to the 39th Training Ground, which had large posts as well as human dummy models for precision training. Yami was trying to utilize Raiton, and had got down a simple C-Rank Raiton jutsu known as the Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder), as well as a B-Rank jutsu known as the Raiton: Gian (False Darkness), which helped him practice properly manifesting Raiton chakra, though it WAS still zapping him a bit. From what he read of elemental chakra, if you have a very great affinity for a certain element or two, when using any jutsu, that element and its attributes may bleed into that jutsu, subtly strengthening it in one way or another. Yami idly wondered sometimes if he was like that sometimes. But for now, he was focusing on one of the jutsu ideas he thought up in the hospital, which he called the Inazuma or the Lightning Fist. It was, as his notes on the idea said, a chakra-enhanced punch that released a burst of lightning chakra which was held in the fist. If it worked, it could, theoretically, be used as an assassination jutsu which could deal fatal amounts of damage with a precise hit. But, well, he was having a lot more trouble with bringing it to fruition.

Yami winced and shook his hand in pain after another failed attempt to force out the lightning chakra in his hand when using Inazuma. There were dents on the gel of the dummy he had been practicing on due to the chakra enhanced punches, but that wasn't the result he had hoped for and had calculated for. He was able to enhance the blow with chakra, was able to contain the lightning chakra in his hand, but he wasn't able to force it out the way he needed to in order for the jutsu to be effective. He was very close to completing this damn jutsu, but he just couldn't use the damn lightning chakra the way he wanted to. He thought for a bit, before realizing that he was FORCING it, and while still containing it within his fist nonetheless. He decided on a new course of action: upon impact, he would release the containment and see what would happen.

He sighed, charging his fist up with lightning chakra and his muscles with normal chakra, wincing at the constant shocks and forceful contraction of his fist, tightening his clenched fist to painful levels as a result of the electric stimulation. His nerves felt like they were burning up, and technically, they _were_, which was a rather alarming thought, but it was just the effects of the Inazuma. Yami pulled back his arm, and threw the punch, stopping the containment right as his fist hit the gel, and he got the result he wanted. Lightning chakra erupted from his fist, bolts of thunderous wrath ripping through the gel and scorching it, branching and ripping deeper, until the bolts gouged scorched, cauterized holes in the wooden post behind it. Yami grinned, "Oh hell yes, I can work with this."

* * *

Yami messed around with darkness in the clearing where he practiced bukijutsu. He never really liked doing this in front of other people, since his darkness was generally a very scary thing to most people. He had learned to make tendrils which acted as tentacles which he could control, as well as how to shape the shadows into different shapes like knives, shuriken, kunai, batons, staffs, wakizashis, and other things that he's seen. Soon after he managed this feat, he realized he could telekinetically control these shadows, and he could also make them intangible and tangible at will. Now, he was just creating shadow tendrils and slamming them into various trees, breaking parts of them, leaving holes. He grinned, and then made the tendrils disappear, before summoning Shadow. "Yo, Shadow. Good to see you." **"Same to you, Yami." **"Can you explain my powers? Like, I've read about different Kagenoko phenomeon reports, but what ARE the powers?"

Shadow gestured for him to sit, and Yami did, before he began speaking. **"You were chosen by spirits like me as a host. We leech off of Yang chakra, which acts as one of our many life sources, along with vitality and souls. We are known as Shadow Spirits, or Shadow Gods, or Kagenokami." **Yami nodded at this, and then asked, "But what about the shadow energy I can manipulate? And how many Kagenokami can be held in a Kagenoko?" **"Well, the shadow energy you can use is what we are made of and what we emit into your body in place of the Yang chakra we leeched. As for your second question, anywhere from one to fifty or even more. The more Kagenokami in one Kagenoko, the less likely they are to survive but also the more powerful they can become when using our shadow energy." **"Then how many are held within me?" **"Well, from what I've been able to count, fifty. Yes, fifty. You may have more, but that's all I was able to count." **"Then how the hell am I still alive?" Shadow looked saddened at that, and stated, **"When you were born, we leeched the soul of your mother from her body. That's the only real reason you managed to live this far. Don't blame yourself, it was our fault."** Yami nodded, knowing that it wasn't his fault, but still sad because of the fact that his mother had to die for him to live. He then said, "Wait. Does that mean I count as a pseudo-jinchuriki? Or is that ONLY for Bijuu?" Shadow shrugged, and then said, **"Alright, that's enough for now. I can tell you more when you need it, but for now, that's the basics." **Yami nodded, then sighed, Shadow reentering his body, before he left the clearing.

* * *

In the same place where they had gyoza before, Obito and Rin just did their homework as Yami, already done with the homework, was poring over several examples of storage seals and the second volume of the fifteen volume series on fuinjutsu he had found within the Konoha library. He had already finished the first, which was the basics: basic seal recognition, the language of seals, ending with how to make the storage seal, which he was currently trying to perfect while also starting on the second, which was how to create the explosive tag, more complex symbols, and the interactions between even and odd numbered seals.

Yami sighed as he drew out a storage seal on a paper tag using chakra ink which would store and release things when chakra is poured in, and then put the brush aside and placed a pencil on the dried seal before pouring chakra in. The pencil disappeared, and two kanji: 鉛筆, the kanji for pencil, appeared in the blank space at the center of the seal. Yami just poured in chakra again, the kanji puffed away into smoke, which cleared to reveal the pencil, unharmed. Yami grinned, picking up the pencil and twirling it around in his hand. He then kept the paper tag, as well as the storage seal examples, and kept reading the second volume.

Eventually, he sighed, putting away the book, and ordering gyoza. He sighed and waited, and then Yukari arrived, sitting in the seat beside his at the same table and just watching Rin and Obito doing homework, with Rin helping. Yukari whispered to him as he was drinking water, "These two are good friends. Maybe they'll get together?" Yami choked, and once he cleared his throat, he said, "What the heck. We're too young, well, they're too young and they're innocent. Not me, since I've read up so much. Dunno bout you, but I'm just happy to be here now. This may never happen again. A war's brewing, Yu. It's only a matter of time." Yukari nodded, and they stayed there in silence, Yukari grateful for this, while Yami knew that things were soon to come to a head.

* * *

**SO, I managed to cram a lot of words here, mostly about Yami's progression. Also managed to explain the basics of Yami's Shadow powers, and if you want to know what the shadow energy looks like, see the shadow forms of the characters in the game Shadow Fight 3. Regarding the whole great affinity stuff and the 15 volume fuinjutsu series, I sort of drew some inspiration from different fanfics. Yami WILL know fuinjutsu, but he won't be a full-on Seal Master, just knowledgable on seals and able to use them in combat. Anyway, this is Adrestis, and hope you enjoyed! See you guys next chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8: Sotsugyō

**Chapter 8: ****Sotsugyō (Graduation)**

* * *

**A/N: Aight, finally, we're out of the Academy. Now, we can move on to the Genin Teams, and keep in mind, I'll be ignoring ch. 599 where it says Team Minato was formed even though Obito and Rin weren't even Genin, and how multiple Konoha teams entered the Chunin Exams even though most of them weren't even genin. This can be countered by saying they were desperate due to the war, but many actually became Chunin at 11, so I'll ignore that for now, since Kishimoto's timeline is confusion incarnate. So I'll say that Kakashi went solo, but Yami ended up on a genin team with two seniors. Also, thanks for the review, Idiotic Brainspark! Don't worry, the whole expositon and telling will soon become action, just needed to get the Academy arc out of the way. Hope you all enjoy!**

**Rating: T for swearing, gore, implied sexual content later on, implied and explicit death and dark themes later on.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, KISHIMOTO DOES.**

**Note: I will most likely constantly rewrite and modify the earlier chapters, until I'm satisfied, so I suggest you reread in case you wonder about inconsistencies.**

* * *

Yami could only sigh as he headed into the Academy for his graduation exam, wearing an all black outfit of a black shirt, metal arm protectors and gauntlets with kunai, shuriken and fuma shuriken storage seals on them, bandages wrapped around his arms underneath the gauntlets, black fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the backhand, a black belt, black pants wrapped on both legs with bandages with storage seals for his batons on them, and black sandals. Kakashi had graduated the year before, at 5 years old, while Yami had chosen to stay an extra year because it gave him more free time. More free time meant more training.

During the extra year, he had managed to refine the Inazuma, as well as work on other ideas he had for jutsu, like a new Katon jutsu which he called Uzumaku Hiryū (Spiraling Fire Dragon), which was a fusion of the Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet) and the Katon: Bakufū Ranbu (Fire Style: Blast Wave Wild Dance). The way it works is after the hand signs of Tiger, Dragon and Tiger are finished, the chakra built up into fire in the lungs is expelled, and will form into twin dragons which surged forward in a spiraling helix formation before biting on the target or whatever is in their way before exploding into a burst of fire. He considered this jutsu as a B-rank, since it didn't require the control needed in the Karyū Endan to move the dragons around, since they just followed a spiraling motion, but still had decent firepower.

He had finished the third and fourth volumes of the 15 volume fuinjutsu series. The third was about the manipulation of chakra networks, and how chakra suppression seals, paralysis seals, shock tags, resistance and gravity seals worked, along with how they connected to the chakra network and their effects on the human body, while the fourth volume was about the basics of barrier seals, security seals, blood seals and ways to use seals defensively. He was currently on the fifth volume, which was about how seals can be used in combat, like sealing jutsu to be fired back at the enemy and also how to speedily make them.

As Yami went through the written portion of the graduation exam, which was about the different subjects he had studied in the Academy, like mathematics, history, literature, taijutsu, chakra theory and the rest, he just wondered idly about if he would be on a genin team or not. Kakashi had been solo because of his age, and that was one of the reasons why he had chosen to only do this now, so that he could hopefully end up on a team. He may enjoy solitude, but heck, even he had a limit. Besides, interacting with new people was interesting. He finished the exam, then proceeded to mess around with a senbon until the exam paper was taken from him. Then came the practical exam, which was pretty easy. He just had to perform a few basic Jutsus: the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique), the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), and the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique). He did all three flawlessly, creating not just the standard clone, but also a Lightning Clone, a Fire Clone, a Shadow Energy Clone, a Mud Clone and a Rock Clone, though he took a bit longer to form the last two because they weren't one of his affinities. He then had them transform into a person in the room, before substituting himself with each. Needless to say, he pretty much passed, earning his black forehead protector.

Yami sighed, leaving the Academy, no longer a child. He hadn't really thought much about that first day, but he could remember that thought that had plagued him that day, the one he ignores but still plagues him, worse than before. The fact that he was simply on borrowed time. The only reason he was still alive was because his mother died, and the fact that he had taken her soul. How long did he have left, how much time was left on his clock? It was only a matter of time. It was ALWAYS just a matter of time with death.

Once he got home, he sighed, taking off his sandals and hitai-ate and stretching, before running through the 12 hand seals over and over as he walked in. Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Snake, Ox, Dog, Horse, Tiger, Boar, Ram, Hare over and over. Eventually, he stopped, before sitting down on the mat in his room. His room had a bed, a closet, two long rectangular wooden boxes with metal locks and blood seals on top, a desk, a few bookshelves with several notebooks and copied jutsus and other things like chakra theory. It was simplistic, but still worked rather well. Yami just sat on the mat, before beginning to meditate, until he found himself in a black void.

Yami looked around, noticing flashes of vibrant blue until suddenly, Shadow came up to him. "What is this place?", Yami asked, having a feeling about what the place is but wanting to be sure. **"Well, it's the part of your mindscape where we are all sealed.", **Shadow replied. "Why am I here then?" **"You meditated, thus allowing yourself to end up here. It's like how if a jinchuriki meditates, they can see their bijuu behind the seal." **Yami nodded, and then asked, "Shadow, do you have a name? Apart from your nickname?" The being said, **"Well, my real name is Yaminokami, yes, I know, it's a lame name, but my creator chose it, not me." **"I'll just call you Yamino then. Wait, you have a creator?", Yami replied. **"Sounds good. And yes, I have a creator. I don't remember much about him, but I do remember his eyes. One was a purple, rippling eye and the other was milky white."**, Yamino stated. Yami thought on this, and then said, "Okay. Thanks, Yamino. I'll wake up again. Still gotta prepare stuff." Yamino nodded, and Yami broke out of the mindscape.

He opened his eyes on the mat, and stood up, stretching before wondering what he should do. He eventually decided on training and preparation. He bit his thumb, wincing at the pain before smearing it on the blood seals, causing lines of kanji and symbols which enveloped the whole of each box, wrapped around the boxes like chains, to appear before dissipating, along with the blood. He then opened the latches, revealing two swords: one was a shirasaya the size of a wakizashi, with no guard and no embellishments, just the hendle, blade and scabbard, all white. The other was a wakizashi-sized chokuto with a black handle and black scabbard. Both had ropes attached which could be tied to his belt, both had a horimono (image engraved onto blade) of a tori gate, and both were forged out of chakra metal. He picked up each, looking at each and analysing, before sheathing each and tying the sheaths to his belt with the shirasaya on his left and his chokuto on his right, before heading out.

Yami made it to a different Training Ground, Training Ground 8, which was a kenjutsu-based training ground, and was one of the training grounds Yami enjoyed. It had various dummies, as well as posts of bamboo and wood. He drew his chokuto, before cutting at one of the dummies, leaving a slice mark on it. He kept this up, before eventually sheathing the chokuto and moving back until he was a fair distance away from the dummy, before deciding to test out a kenjutsu idea he had.

He kept one hand on the sheath of his shirasaya, and another on its handle, before building up chakra. He then used Shunshin, dashing forward to the right of the dummy, and then he drew the shirasaya using the Iaido method, slicing clean through the dummy with the combined force, power and momentum, before sheathing the blade while still using Shunshin and stopping. To an outsider, it would just look like he had zoomed past the dummy, and the dummy was mysteriously cut in half. He grinned as he looked back at the perfect cut he had made, and said to himself, "Let's give this a name.. I know! Shunshin: Iai. I like it!" Yami chuckled, and then continued training until he decided to head back home and turn in for the night.

* * *

The next day, he was put into a genin team known as Team 5, which consisted of himself, another Uchiha named Senshi Uchiha and a female Hyuuga known as Kiyomi Hyuuga, both of whom were a few years older. Senshi was fair-skinned, with messy black hair. He wore his forehead protector on his head, and had a dark blue shirt, fingerless gloves, a belt with pouches and kunai holsters, black pants and sandals. Kiyomi was also fair-skinned, with long black hair that had a dark blue tinge which was tied into a ponytail. She had a mesh shirt underneath a white jacket, fingerless gloves, bandages wrapped around her arms, black pants and blue sandals.

Their sensei was a man known as Nobuo Kinji, who was a skilled jonin specializing in ninjutsu and taijutsu. Nobuo had slightly darker skin compared to the others, and also had black hair in a buzzcut. He wore his forehead protector on his head, and wore the standard Konoha infantry outfit of a long-sleeve shirt, a flak jacket and black pants. He also had gauntlets and fingerless gloves, a belt with kunai & shuriken holsters, as well as a sheathed tanto, and he wore black sandals. They were in the Third Training Ground, and this was their first meeting.

"Alright, let's just introduce ourselves. Names, ages, likes, dislikes, hobbies, specialties, and dreams. I'll go first. My name is Nobuo Kinji, I like learning and helping others, I dislike arrogance, I prefer to train and learn more jutsu, I specialize in ninjutsu and taijutsu, and I dream of mastering all 5 elemental chakra natures.", Nobuo said, before pointing to Yami and saying, "Your turn."

Yami said, "Name's Yami Uchiha, I'm 6 years old, I like training, studying, making jutsu and ramen. I dislike prejudice, unreasonable hatred, bullies, jutsu failing to work and arrogance. My hobbies are making jutsu, working with those jutsu, studying and learning. I specialize in ninjutsu, genjutsu, bukijutsu and fuinjutsu, though I'm still working on fuinjutsu. And I want to be a ramen chef if I survive the war." Everyone blinked when he said his specialties, and when he said his dream, Senshi chuckled at it, and Yami just said, "I'm serious."

Senshi then said, "Well, my name's Senshi Uchiha, I'm 9 years old, I like social interaction, getting better at jutsu and people I can spar with, I dislike emo jerks and people who think others are below them, my hobbies are training and talking with people, I specialize in taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu and shurikenjutsu, and my dream is to become a powerful Uchiha." Yami just sighed and muttered softly, "Everyone's after power.."

Then Kiyomi said, "My name is Kiyomi Hyuuga. I'm 8 years old. I like training, I dislike loud and annoying people, my hobby is training, I specialize in taijutsu and ninjutsu, and I have no dream." Senshi just whispered to Yami, "She's really uptight.", and Yami just sighed, holding back a snicker, which Senshi noticed, making him grin.

Nobuo said, "Well, looks like we have a group of trainers. Do you guys know tree walking and water walking?" They all nodded, and Nobuo sighed, before saying, "Do you guys know your chakra natures?" Yami nodded, while Senshi and Kiyomi shook their heads. Nobuo said, "Alright then, let's start! But before that.. well, we need to do a test to see if you're actually genin."

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**ALRIGHT, now we're getting into proper fights. Also, 1000 views?! Even though only 5% of the views in the first chapter made it to Chapter 7, still. 1000 views. Thank you all. I hope to keep doing my best in my writing. Thank you all so much! Adrestis here, see you again soon!**


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